Felice Navidad, fellow conchlers!  Just thought i'd throw my tuppence
worth on a few recent topics.  I'm certainly not a cone-head, but i do
know that many of them like to hide in the daytime and hunt at night,
making  night diving  the best way to capture the critters.  They are
all carnovores to my knowledge, and have a radula which has one tooth,
and is used somewhat like a harpoon, to deliver  toxins which rapidly
incapacitate the prey.  A few spp eat fish, and have extra-strength
venom and wide aperatures to  make this possible.  Conus geographicus
L., is of course the most powerful, and a friend in Tanzania recently
nearly died because of a sting (is this the proper term??) from one.
The thing  i like about cones best, is the fabulous variation in color
and pattern which occurs within any  given population of most Conus spp;
far superior to that of those ceramic easter-egg wannabees people pay
thousands of dollars for!  (But as a dealer, i cannot really knock Cyps-
they can be a MAJOR help in the "quick cash " department!!) .  One of my
favorite passtimes is to sit down with a pile of relatively common cones
or pectens,  and make up sets or "series" of  variants which have a bit
of artistic value, especially when arranged carefully.
        Re shelling in Oregon:  Tackle the beach at the lowest tide you can
find, wear (and bring, for afterwards!) extra socks, and head for the
rocks at, and just below the
low-water mark.  There are plenty of great Polyplacophora, quite often
on the underside of the rocks, and a good assortment of Trochidae as
well.